Open AccessIntegrated microwave photonic true-time delay with interferometric delay enhancement based on Brillouin scattering and microring resonators
Author(s) -
Luke McKay,
Moritz Merklein,
Yang Liu,
Alex Cramer,
Jordan Maksymow,
Andrew Chilton,
Kunlun Yan,
DukYong Choi,
Steve Madden,
Richard DeSalvo,
Benjamin J. Eggleton
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.408617
Subject(s) - brillouin scattering , resonator , optics , true time delay , optical carrier transmission rates , materials science , photonics , interferometry , optoelectronics , slow light , bandwidth (computing) , radio over fiber , physics , optical fiber , phased array , photonic crystal , telecommunications , computer science , antenna (radio)
True-time delays are important building blocks in modern radio frequency systems that can be implemented using integrated microwave photonics, enabling higher carrier frequencies, improved bandwidths, and a reduction in size, weight, and power. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) offers optically-induced continuously tunable delays and is thus ideal for applications that require programmable reconfiguration but previous approaches have been limited by large SBS gain requirements. Here, we overcome this limitation by using radio-frequency interferometry to enhance the Brillouin-induced delay applied to the optical sidebands that carry RF signals, while controlling the phase of the optical carrier with integrated silicon nitride microring resonators. We report a delay tunability over 600 ps exploiting an enhancement factor of 30, over a bandwidth of 1 GHz using less than 1 dB of Brillouin gain utilizing a photonic chip architecture based on Brillouin scattering and microring resonators.